Department for Transport

East Coast Railway Line

lord adonis: To ask Her Majesty's Government what infrastructure improvements by Network Rail had been (1) contracted, and (2) announced, in respect of the East Coast Main Line at the time the contract with Virgin Rail Group and Stagecoach Group for the East Coast franchise was signed; and what precise contractual obligations lay with (a) HM Government, and (b) Network Rail, to ensure the timely completion of those works as part of that franchise.

baroness sugg: At the time the Virgin Trains East Coast franchise was awarded NR were developing a package of enhancements to the route that sought to enable the Intercity Express Programme fleet to operate, increase the frequency of trains and reduce journey times for passengers. The infrastructure enhancements on East Coast Main Line were announced by Network Rail in their published Enhancement Delivery Plan, which is regulated by the Office and Rail and Road (ORR). There are no contractual arrangements between Network Rail and HM Government in respect of these works.

East Coast Rail Franchise

lord adonis: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Comptroller and Auditor General was informed, prior to the announcement on 29 November, of the decision to terminate the Stagecoach Group and Virgin Rail Group East Coast franchise three years early; and if so, whether he raised any issues or concerns.

baroness sugg: The Comptroller and Auditor General was not informed prior to the announcement on 29th November.

Railways: Franchises

lord adonis: To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the statement byBaroness Sugg on 29 November (HL Deb, cols 679-682), whether any rail franchise operator, other than Stagecoach Group and Virgin Rail Group on the East Coast franchise, will be eligible to terminate their existing franchise early and forge a public private partnership instead.

baroness sugg: We expect all operators and their guarantors to continue to fulfil their financial and contractual commitments.

Railways: Standards

lord adonis: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the traffic performance of each of the train companies operating rail franchises in the first six months of 2017; and how that performance compares to the projections of traffic for that period in those companies' final bids for the franchises.

baroness sugg: The Office of Rail and Road produces data on the number of passenger journeys made (millions) on franchised train operators in Great Britain. The data for the period between January and March; and April and June 2017 are given in the table below: Rail passenger journeys by franchised train operator, Great Britain  Jan - Mar 2017Apr - Jun 2017Arriva Trains Wales7.88.0c2c12.311.6Caledonian Sleeper0.10.1Chiltern Railways7.06.8CrossCountry9.79.7East Midlands Trains6.76.6Govia Thameslink Railway80.377.9Great Western Railway25.725.9Greater Anglia20.519.9London Midland19.317.6London Overground47.547.0Merseyrail9.610.1Northern27.425.7ScotRail23.923.5South West Trains58.052.1Southeastern46.941.6TfL Rail11.310.2TransPennine Express6.96.5Virgin Trains East Coast5.55.3Virgin Trains West Coast9.79.2

Railways: Franchises

lord adonis: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by Baroness Sugg on 29 November (HL Deb, cols 679–82), whether any other rail company, besides Stagecoach Group and Virgin Rail Group on the East Coast franchise, has indicated to HM Government a desire to end its existing franchise early and forge a public–private partnership; and if so, which.

baroness sugg: Due to commercial confidentiality, we don’t comment on the financial position of individual franchises. We work closely with all our franchisees throughout their contracts and monitor their progress against their contractual commitments. We expect all operators and their guarantors to continue to fulfil their financial and contractual commitments.

Roads: Construction

lord bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many major highway enhancement schemes, costing more than £5 billion, were completed in the period 2010–15; what were the value for money criteria on which those projects were authorised; how much of any assessed benefit was attributed to time savings by road users; and whether the anticipated savings have been realised.

baroness sugg: There have been no major highway enhancement schemes costing more than £5 billion completed between 2010-2015.

Unmanned Air Vehicles

lord naseby: To ask Her Majesty's Government, what assessment they have made of the estimate by the Civil Aviation Authority that 1.5 million drones will be sold this Christmas; and what actions they propose to take to publicise safeguards forthe use of drones.

lord naseby: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to contact relevant retailers and online operators to seek co-operation in publicising safeguards for the use of drones.

lord naseby: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to mount a short-term campaign across all media around Christmas publicising safeguards for the use of drones.

baroness sugg: The government takes the safety risks drones can pose very seriously, and has recently announced a package of legislative measures to address this for Spring 2018. The measures include registration, leisure pilot test and new police powers.The Department for Transport supports the CAA in carrying out its Dronecode safety awareness campaign. The CAA is leading a special Christmas effort with retailers and other drone industry stakeholders to remind any new drone owners of the rules. Buyers of drones this Christmas should buy from a Dronesafe approved retailer, who will provide info on safety rules at point of sale, and log onto www.dronesafe.uk to learn more.

Leamside Railway Line

lord shipley: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are planning to re-open the Leamside railway line between Sunderland, Washington and Durham; if so, what steps they are taking to achieve this; how much progress has been made; and when they expect that line to re-open.

baroness sugg: The Government is working with local authorities and other partners to identify the best new rail projects that can unlock new housing and economic growth, ease overcrowding, meet future demand and offer good value for money. No immediate decisions have been made to reopen the Leamside line.

Railways: Franchises

lord adonis: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they made of the impact on the budget of the Department for Transport of the changes to the franchising regime announced on 29 November; and whether the Department agreed those changes in advance with Her Majesty’s Treasury.

baroness sugg: We work with Her Majesty’s Treasury on all issues that affect significant public spending and budget allowance. At Her Majesty’s Government, investment decisions are made based on a rigorous and fair appraisal process that ensures spending goes to the projects and programmes where it is most needed and delivers greatest value-for-money for both taxpayers and passengers. We are always looking for the best ways to achieve value for money for the tax payer and the best results for passengers. Announced reforms will build on the best of the public and private sectors, with private sector involvement bringing innovation, investment and competition.

Railways: Franchises

lord adonis: To ask Her Majesty's Government which external consultants were engaged to assist or advise on the new policy on rail franchising announced on 29 November.

baroness sugg: The Department for Transport sought advice from Arup, KMPG, Oxera, PwC, Roland Berger and SDG in relation to the rail franchising policies announced on 29 November.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Social Enterprises

lord bird: To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer byLord Prior of Brampton on 1 August (HL1112), in what ways their Industrial Strategy will better support social enterprises.

lord henley: The Government’s ambitious, modern Industrial Strategy sets out a long term plan to boost the productivity and earning power of people throughout the UK. It sets out how we are building a Britain fit for the future – how we will help businesses create better, higher-paying jobs in every part of the United Kingdom with investment in the skills, industries and infrastructure of the future. We will drive productivity in businesses and social enterprises of all sizes by increasing collaboration, building skills and ensuring everyone has the opportunity of ‘good work’ and better, higher-paying jobs. We will create a business environment equipped for the challenges and opportunities of new technologies and new ways of doing business, including innovative social enterprises that make an enormous contribution to our economy and our communities across the country. The Government is clear that the industrial strategy is part of our work to deliver an economy that works for everyone. It is a long term strategy to boost productivity and earning power of all people throughout the UK.

Energy

lord truscott: To ask Her Majesty's Government what they estimate will be the components of the UK’s energy mix in (1) 2030, and (2) 2050.

lord henley: The Climate Change Act requires the UK to reduce it emissions by at least 80% by 2050 and the recently set fifth carbon budget requires us to reduce our emissions in 2032 by 57%. Meeting these targets will require changes to the UK’s energy mix and other sectors. The Clean Growth Strategy sets out one possible pathway to meeting our fifth carbon budget, and three illustrative pathways to 2050.

Housing: Construction

lord jones of cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of additional construction workers required to build 300,000 homes a year; and where any additional workers required will be sourced from.

lord henley: Annual housing supply in England amounted to 217,350 net additional dwellings in 2016-17, the highest number since 2007-08. The Government’s ambition is to increase this to 300,000 net additional dwellings by the mid-2020s. Currently, around 2.2m workers are engaged in the construction sector. The construction workforce is flexible, with a high degree of movement between different subsectors, including into and out of house building. The recently announced Construction Sector Deal aims to deliver a step change in productivity by increasing the use of digital and offsite manufacturing technologies, including in house building. These variables – flows of workers and productivity – mean it is not possible to accurately assess the additional workforce that may be necessary to meet Government house building ambitions several years hence. We are working closely with industry and the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) to keep construction skills needs under review and ensure these are met. In addition, a £34m fund for construction skills was announced in the Budget, as part of the National Retraining Scheme. The fund will help to build construction training facilities attached to housing developments, and will support adult students to retrain as construction workers.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Sayed Alwadaei

lord scriven: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Embassy of Bahrain in the UK's involvement in actions against the family members of Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei since October2016.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: The Government has raised these cases with the Government of Bahrain. We have received assurances from the Bahraini authorities that neither they nor the Embassy of Bahrain in the UK have been involved in any reprisals against the family members of Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei.

Ministry of Defence

Warships

lord west of spithead: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer byEarl Howe on 5 December, how many Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships are in commission on 5 December; and how many will be in commission on (1) 1 December 2020, (2) 1 December 2025, and (3) 1 December 2030.

earl howe: As of 5 December 2017, there were 72 Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships in commission. On current plans, there will be 77 Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships in Commission in December 2020 and beyond.

Department for Work and Pensions

Poverty

lord ouseley: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byBaroness Buscombe on 28 November (HL3456), how they assess and evaluate (1) progress in tackling poverty, and (2) the impact of their fiscal and welfare policies on those vulnerable groups of people they have pledged to assist.

baroness buscombe: This Government is committed to action that tackles the root causes of poverty and disadvantage with policies that incentivise employment as the best route out of poverty. In Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families, we set out a framework for a continued focus on improving children’s long-term outcomes. This includes nine national indicators to track progress in tackling the disadvantages that affect families and children. Four of these measures are set out in Primary legislation which places a duty on the Government report annually to Parliament on the parental worklessness and educational attainment indicators. Data on the non-statutory indicators will also be published each year. The Government carefully considers the equality impacts of individual policies on those with protected characteristics, including gender, race and disability - in line with both its legal obligations and with its strong commitment to equality issues. Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) undertake distributional analysis, at each fiscal event, to assess the impact of tax, welfare and public spending changes on household incomes. The latest was published to accompany Autumn Budget 2017.



HMT Budget 2017
(PDF Document, 383.16 KB)




Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families
(PDF Document, 808.37 KB)

Welfare State: Reform

lord ouseley: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byBaroness Buscombe on 28 November (HL3456), how they monitor the accumulated impact of welfare benefit changes on different groups; and what assessment they have made of that impact.

baroness buscombe: Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) undertake a distributional analysis, at each fiscal event, to assess the accumulated impact of tax, welfare and public spending changes on household incomes. The latest analysis was published to accompany Autumn Budget 2017. In terms of monitoring the impacts on different groups, the Department publishes annual estimates of households living in low income in the Households Below Average Incomes (HBAI) publication. These statistics set out long run trends in the risks of different groups living in low income households. The latest estimates are to 2015/16 and 2016/17 results have been pre-announced to be published in March 2018.



HMT Budget 2017
(PDF Document, 383.16 KB)




HBAI Incomes
(PDF Document, 849.97 KB)